ENAR Ireland’s submission to the Oireachtas on Integration, Multiculturalism and Combating Racism

Click to read ENAR Ireland’s submission to the Oireachtas on Integration, Multiculturalism and Combating Racism

Executive Summary

ENAR Ireland is a national network of NGOs and community organisations which works at both a National and European level to combat racism. It uses iReport.ie and a range of other measures and instruments to monitor racism, influence debate and make policy recommendations for positive change locally, nationally and in Europe.

There is currently a policy vacuum on racism and xenophobia in Ireland, at the same time, racism is a far greater problem than is acknowledged. There is not enough data on racism and discrimination, due to under reporting and insufficient resourcing for monitoring.

Racism occurs at 3 interlocking levels; personal, structural and institutional. ENAR Ireland and its membership favour an approach to tackling and monitoring these interlocking levels of racism through a coordinated approach, which is comprehensive, systematic and holistic, and uses a wide range of measures and instruments. These measures are set out under the headings: Institutions, Legislation, Policy and Practice. These measures ought to be coordinated as part of a renewed National Action Plan Against Racism and would include the following recommended changes:

The reestablishment of an independent body for advising the government on racism

The resourcing of an independent institution to monitor and report on racism

To fund a range of anti-racism initiatives

To adequately resource the new Equality and Human Rights Commission to ensure the Human Rights of all minorities.

To ensure that all minorities, including Asylum Seekers are covered by equality legislation

To ensure that all state institutions are covered by Equality Legislation

To ensure full State compliance with all EU Directives, UPR, ECRI, UNCERD, Framework Decision and the Good Friday Agreement with regards equality, discrimination and racism.

To Establish an independent Judicial Council

To review the Judges Benchbook

To make racism a crime by legislating both for Racially Aggravated Offences AND by providing for judges to ‘Uplift’ sentences where Racism is a factor

To abolish Direct Provision and the Habitual Residence Condition and bring forth an Immigration, Residence and Protection Bill

To resource An Garda Síochána and the Courts Service adequately to counter Institutional Racism and deal with victims of hate crime

To recognise Traveller ethnicity

To develop a progressive National Traveller Roma Integration Strategy

To ensure Traveller and minority ethnic representation at the High Level Official Group

To collect disaggregated data on ethnicity across all state bodies and administrative systems